THE BATTLE OF THE LABYRINTH Percy Jackson ... - No one's invited.

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I stared at her. “Are you a naiad?”
She rolled her eyes.“Of course!”
“But you speak English. And you’re out of the water.”
“What, you don’t think we can act human if we want to?”
I’d never thought about it. I kind of felt stupid, though, because I’d seen plenty of naiads at camp, and
they’d never done much more than giggle and wave at me from the bottom of the canoe lake.
“Look,” I said. “I just came to ask—”
“I know who you are,” she said. “And I know what you want. And the answer is no! I’m not going to
have my river used again to clean that filthy stable.”
“But—”
“Oh, save it, sea boy. You ocean-god types always think you’resoooo much more important than some
little river, don’t you?well let me tell you,this naiad is not going to be pushed around just because your
daddy is Poseidon. This is freshwater territory, mister. The last guy who asked me this favor—oh, he
was way better-looking than you, by the way—he convinced me, and that was the worst mistake I’ve
ever made! Do you have any idea what all that horse manure does to my ecosystem? Do I look like a
sewage treatment plant to you? My fish will die. I’llnever get the much out of my plants. I’ll be sick for
years. NO THANK YOU!”
The way she talked reminded me of my mortal friend, Rachel Elizabeth Dare—kind of like she was
punching me with words. I couldn’t blame the naiad. Now that I thought about it, I’d be pretty mad if
somebody dumped four million pounds of manure in my home. But still…”
“My friends are in danger,” I told her.
“Well, that’s too bad! But it’s not my problem. And you’re not going to ruin my river.”
She looked like she was ready for a fight. Her fists were balled, but I thought I heard a little quiver in her
voice. Suddenly I realized that despite her angry attitude, she was afraid of me. She probably thought I
was going to fight her for control of the river, and she was worried she would lose.
The thought made me sad. I felt like a bully, a son of Poseidon throwing his weight around.
I sat down on a tree stump. “Okay, you win.”
The naiad looked surprised.“Really?”
“I’m not going to fight you. It’s your river.”
She relaxed her shoulders. “Oh. Oh, good. I mean—good thing for you!”
“But my friends and I are going to get sold to the Titans if I don’t clean those stables by sunset. And I
don’t know how.”